1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for inventory management, and, in particular, relates to the verification of items dispensed from an inventory.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the medical community, and in particular, in hospitals, to provide centrally located medication and supply dispensing stations, such as wall cabinets, manually secured patient cassette drawers, and automated dispensing machines. Such generally accessible dispensing stations serve several functions including the distribution of medicines and supplies to patient caregivers.
Although generally serving their intended purpose, there are disadvantages to such dispensing stations. One disadvantage is that the caregiver can receive or otherwise obtain the an incorrect medication from the dispensing station. This may be the result of the caregiver manually removing the incorrect medication from the dispensing station, or, in the case of automated dispensing machines, the automated dispensing machine dispensing the incorrect medication to the caregiver. Providing the incorrect medication to a patient can result in serious harm or death.
One attempt to address this disadvantage is for the caregiver to verify that they have received the correct medication. This is commonly achieved by the caregiver reading the text label on the medication or using a barcode scanner to scan a barcode associated with the medication. A caregiver, however, may incorrectly read the text label or not read the text label at all. Using a barcode scanner to scan the barcode takes additional time. In both instances, the text and/or barcode label of the medication may also be incorrect or missing.